Defective by Design - mobtvhttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/topic/mobtv
enDay 34 - MOB TVhttp://www.defectivebydesign.org/blog/1229
<div class="field field--name-body field--type-text-with-summary field--label-hidden"><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><p>Koh Choon Lin writes:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I am very frustrated by my local media provider, MOBTV, who provides
video-on-demand service. It is a subscription-based service that
provides viewers with immediate access to their favorite programmes.</p>
<p>According to their FAQ, their subscribers would need a computer
loaded with non-free software like Microsoft Windows, Windows Media
Player and Internet Explorer with ActiveX. For GNU/Linux users in
Singapore, that means we would be unable to access their
content. Thinking I could still access the media files using free
software, it was then discovered that all MOBTV videos are encrypted
with DRM technology and I would need proprietary DRM software to view
them. Worse, even though the videos are downloaded onto the computer
and can be watched at a later time, they can only be played if one
has a valid subscription with MOBTV.</p>
<p>Incredibly, once the videos are removed from MOBTV servers, their
subscribers will not be able to view them even if they had downloaded
the video to their computer. While free software users in Singapore
can only hope for a change in the media market, prudence suggests
that there may be more to come and we had better be prepared for the
worst after DeCSS was banned.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This follows an amendment to Singapore's copyright law, allowing
people with visual impairment to break the encryption on ebooks and
other digital media, whilst allowing academics to extract clips from
copy-protected movies for classroom use. </p>
<p>"The Copyright Act has also been amended to prohibit home users from
cracking obsolete computer programs or video games for which they had
lost the access codes, even if they originally bought the items,"
<a href="http://www.straitstimes.com/print/Breaking%2BNews/Singapore/Story/STIStory_316063.html">reports Chua Hian Hou for The Straits
Times</a>,
going on to say, "For instance, users are still prohibited from using a
password generator to generate access codes to play video games or
using software like DeCSS to make unauthorised copies of DVD
movies. Those found guilty face fines of up to $20,000."</p>
</div></div></div><div class="field field--name-taxonomy-vocabulary-1 field--type-taxonomy-term-reference field--label-above"><div class="field__label">Topic:&nbsp;</div><div class="field__items"><div class="field__item even"><a href="/topic/mobtv">mobtv</a></div><div class="field__item odd"><a href="/topic/singapore">singapore</a></div></div></div>Tue, 13 Jan 2009 19:28:05 +0000Matt Lee1229 at http://www.defectivebydesign.org